Say It
by Cleopatra Antoinette
Summary: "Try it," he challenged her, his eyes taking on a gleam she saw only when he was in battle. "Say it, and see what happens."


So I used to be a total Koto/Chu fan. But then Chu fell for Natsume, and since I bow to canon (usually), I accepted this gracefully. Then I found out Koto and Touya were canon. And that I just couldn't wrap my head around. Koto and Jin, sure. Koto and Suzuki, of course. Koto and Shishiwakamaru, even. Koto and TOUYA, the ICE KING? Uh, no.

But then I got to thinking about it, and now I think it's pretty cute. She's loud where he's quiet, but they're both passionate and I think they'd get along well. So in honor of my new conversion, I have written this little story. I hope you like it.

I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or any affiliated characters.

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**Say It  
**

Koto stood on a tiny island in the middle of a vast lake that was covered with a thin sheet of ice. The trees that stood on the shore were covered with a layer of fine snow, and in ideal circumstances, she would have thought it a rather picturesque scene.

As it was, she was freezing her tail off. Koto was dressed in an elegant and lovely white wedding dress, with a corset top and soft, lacy fabric falling around her legs. Since she had a tail, it couldn't be a traditional dress. There was no back, and it plunged dangerously low to where her tail sat so that it would be free from the dress. For the sake of modesty, the back had laces criss-crossing over her skin to make it look a little less risqué, and the skirt was full length, a thing that Koto was increasingly grateful for as the wind moaned around her, making her shiver. While her legs were more or less shielded from the weather, her bare arms and chest were not.

She could have tried to risk walking across the ice, but she knew it would be risky at best and dangerous at worst. But it was either that, or freeze out here, and she would be damned before she took _his_ option. "Egotistical, cold-hearted bastard," she muttered. "I'd rather lose all the hair on my tail." That wasn't precisely true, but her pride wouldn't allow herself to admit that.

There was really nothing else for it in her mind. She would just have to suck it up and deal with it. Cautiously taking a step forward, she placed one foot on the ice and put some weight on it.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," came a cool, collected voice behind her.

Koto spun around, but of course she couldn't see him. "Go to hell," she spat at the wind.

"Why do you have to be so damn stubborn?" said the voice angrily.

"ME? YOU of all people are calling ME stubborn?!"

"Yes! Just admit it and I'll take you someplace warm and-"

"I want to go back to Kenoji," Koto demanded, her normally sharp eyes scanning the falling snow for any sign of her hidden captor.

"Over my dead body."

"That could be arranged," she muttered to herself.

The voice came from beside her, tinged with a hint of desperation. "Why can't you just say it? I know you don't actually care about him. The whole engagement was just a publicity stunt! Why can't you just-"

"Say what I'm feeling? You, of all people, have no right to say that. I waited years for you to say something to me! But no, you couldn't be bothered. You just took me for granted and strung me along like a world-class creep! You're a coward and you have no one to blame but yourself for the fact that I have this dress on and a groom waiting for me back home."

Koto's harsh words cut through the air and she wished she could take them back the minute she said them, but it was too late. Instead of apologizing, she turned back to the lake and bit her lip pretending to be staring down at the ice. The voice was silent. She waited for several seconds, hoping he'd say something to her. When he didn't, she tried to push down the disappointment and once more placed a foot on the ice.

"I _am_ a coward," the voice said softly by her ear. Koto froze. "I did take you for granted. I wasn't brave enough to say what I wanted to. I just…" He seemed to struggle with words for a moment before continuing. "You were always so brave when it came to that. I always thought that you would be the one to say it, and then once I knew, I'd…"

Koto closed her eyes and sighed. "Look, it's not that I'm not… I do care about you, a lot, but I never know what you're feeling, or what you're thinking, and honestly it's exhausting. You don't let anyone see past your barriers. I'm always the one reaching out and it makes me feel like I mean nothing to you. All those times you said those sweet things or did something nice, you'd go back to your old self right after. I really don't know how you feel about anything, especially me."

She turned around, but still didn't see him. Koto frowned. "I don't particularly like having a conversation with the air, you know."

No response. "If you have something to say, just say it."

Still nothing. "That's what I thought," she said sadly, and turned back to the ice.

The voice suddenly spoke again. "Even if you got across, which you wouldn't, what would you do?"

"Well, I _was_ at the altar before _someone_ so _rudely _kidnapped me and brought me here."

"So you'd go back to him then." The voice was quiet and full of something Koto couldn't quite place.

Koto sighed heavily. "I guess. He's really sweet to me."

"But you don't love him."

"Not as much as I wish I did," Koto admitted.

"So why go back to him?" challenged the voice.

"No one else has given me a better offer."

"Just say it and we can talk about offers."

"No! You say it!"

"That is not part of the deal! I already gave you my conditions!"

"Well, you can just take your conditions and shove them up your ass!" shouted Koto, turning around briefly to give a finger to air around her. "I'm going home!" And with that, she began to walk over the ice. She ignored her name being shouted urgently behind her and instead continued on.

And then she fell through the ice. The last thing she managed to scream out before she fell through was "TOUYA!"

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[]

Koto woke up some time later on a bed made of animal pelts. At least, she hoped they were pelts. She wasn't sure where she was though. She sat up a little and looked around at her surroundings. She was in a cave of some sort. There was a fireplace that someone had carved into the stone in the corner and there was a table with some chairs… She turned bright red when she saw her dress draped carefully over one of them and looked down at herself. Except for a pair of blue lacy panties (she thought the human tradition of "something borrowed, something blue", etc, was adorable and so she had adopted it), she was completely naked. She felt her face getting even hotter. Any second and a person could have boiled water from the heat radiating off her.

"You are the most stubborn woman in any world." Koto looked in the direction of the voice to see Touya sitting on a flat-surfaced rock in the corner, his eyes closed in meditation. "I tell you clearly not to cross the ice, and then you go and do it. Then I have to rescue you." He was without any clothing himself save a pair of black pants, and when he opened his eyes to gaze at her, the kitsune had to remind herself not to get drawn into their beautiful sapphire depths like she always seemed to do before.

She sighed and laid back against the pelts, running a hand over the furs. There was really nothing to say to him that she hadn't already and she was in no mood to say anything more. Touya waited for her to speak and then she heard his slow, deliberate movements as he got up from his seat and walked over to her, sitting on the edge of the furs. "Koto," he said softly. She didn't respond. "Koto?"

"My life was sooo easy before I met you, you know," she finally said quietly, flinging an arm over her eyes. "I was really, really happy."

He made no comment, and just continued watching her, his eyes sad now. "And then I met you. And you were absolutely perfect. I didn't love you at first you know. It used to just be a crush. Oh, but you couldn't be happy with that. No, no, you just had to go and be wonderful and fantastic and honorable and an awesome fighter and you're handsome and caring to everyone except me."

"That's not true, Koto," he cut in.

"Yes it is! You've always kept me at arm's length, except when we were alone. And then you treated me badly around everyone else."

He was quiet for a long time and then, almost timidly, asked "You really think I did that?"

She felt a small pang of guilt and rectified her statement. "No, not all the time."

"But sometimes."

"Sometimes, yes."

Neither of us said much until Touya spoke up again. "I wish you'd just say it."

Koto scowled at him. "If I say it, nothing will happen."

"You don't know that."

"I do know that."

"Try it," he challenged her, his eyes taking on a gleam she saw only when he was in battle. "Say it, and see what happens."

"And if I say it," she said cautiously, "I'm free to go?"

The look he gave her made her heart stop beating. His gaze was soft and sad, but determined. "If you want to go, then you're free to go. I won't stop you. I'll take you wherever you want."

"Just say it?"

"Yes. That's all I want."

There was utter silence for several minutes while the two of them stared into each other's eyes. Koto's cat ears twitched slightly as her brow furrowed in thought. Touya's gaze was even and calm, but his body was held in an almost tense way, his fingers digging into his legs.

"Touya, I love you," Koto finally pronounced. "There, I said it. And I meant it, too. I've adored you for ages, but nothing happened, and now that I've said it we can stop this charade and I can go home feeling miserable and lonely and heartbroken and you can go back to your life thinking that I'm an idiot fangirl and-"

She suddenly found herself silenced by Touya, who had slammed his lips against hers and pushed her back down into the pelts. Koto was in shock. Touya was _kissing_ her. _Touya_ was kissing her. Touya was kissing _her_.

It took about five seconds and a mental apology to Kenoji, but soon her arms were twined around his neck and she was kissing him back just as fiercely. How long had she waited for this kiss? Years? Decades? Far too long was all she knew. By the time he pulled away from her slowly, she was out of breath and somewhat stunned. "If you try to act like nothing happened after that, I'm going to stab you," she told him firmly.

"I love you, Koto," he murmured to her.

The normally eloquent woman opened her mouth to say something pithy, but all that came out was a sort of squeak mixed with a gasp. Sort of like an "Ack…"

Touya frowned slightly. "That wasn't quite the reaction I was hoping for."

"I just…" her voice faded out and Koto had to clear it to get it sounding normal again. "I never thought I'd hear you say those words to me."

"Well, now I have," Touya said quietly. "And I apologize for not saying it much sooner."

"I'll accept your apology if you do something about it now," Koto told him.

Touya smirked and leaned into her more so that he was laying over her. "I can do that."

"Also keep saying you love me."

His lips skimmed across her neck. "I love you, Koto."

"Mmm… say it like you mean it," she said dreamily. He lifted his head up and stared her straight in the eyes as he moved closer, his lips ghosting across hers lightly as he whispered, "I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you."

"Goody." And then she pulled his face back to hers for another fierce kiss.

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[]

"So I think I should let Kenoji know the wedding is off."

"After what we just did, I should hope so."

"I feel kind of guilty about that."

"Hm, that's too bad. We'll be doing it a lot. It'd be a shame if you felt bad every time we did it."

"I… uh…"

"Heh."

"You wipe that smirk off your face. It's your fault I'm in this position in the first place."

"Yes. Yes it is. And I am _very_ happy about that."

"That's not the kind of position I meant!"

"Mmm."

"Ah… uhm… Wait, wait, Touya, I need to think some things over. I need to-"

"Just change the groom's name to mine."

"_What_?!"

"I already have the groomsmen picked out."

"What?! How- how did you- Did you plan all this?!"

"Not entirely. The guys helped a bit too."

"They _what_?!"

"Chu was the one who said I ought to kidnap you, though."

"_Excuse me_?!"

"Shishi and Suzuki kept saying I should spirit you away to a romantic getaway. My old training haven was the best I could do at such short notice."

"What the friggen hell!"

"Jin and Rinku just suggested I give you candy until you caved."

"I don't believe this…"

"I don't know why. You've met all of them. You can't be that surprised."

"So, so did you plan us…? Oh my GOD, you didn't talk about that with them, did you?!"

"Of course not!"

"Oh, thank god."

"They just suggested the order of positions we do."

Although Touya would be sporting a hand-shaped bruise on his cheek for the next several days, his friends had never seen him smile so much in their lives.

**The End  
**

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So that's the end of my little fic. I'll probably do other little snippits with them in the future, but I liked this idea too much to not just write it down. I hope you found the read entertaining and worthy of your reviews! Constructive criticism is appreciated and encouraged.


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